Herald Blogs

HAVANA -- Adela Hernandez, a biologically male Cuban who has lived as a female since childhood, served two years in prison in the 1980s for "dangerousness" after her own family denounced her sexuality.

This month she made history by becoming the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the municipal government of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara.

In a country where gays were persecuted for decades and sent to grueling work camps in the countryside, Hernandez, 48, hailed her election as yet another milestone in a gradual shift away from macho attitudes in the years since Fidel Castro himself expressed regret over the treatment of people perceived to be different.

"As time evolves, homophobic people - although they will always exist - are the minority," Hernandez said by phone from her hometown.

California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, a former Webelos Scout, issued a letter today urging the Boy Scouts of America to end their decades-long policy of barring gay Scouts and leaders from serving within the organization. Newsom becomes one of the most high-profile U.S. politicians to join in support of a series of online petitions at Change.org demanding the Boy Scouts of America end their ban on gay Scouts and leaders.

Newsom's letter (available here) comes in the wake of a California mom's popular Change.org petition -- signed by more than 400,000 people -- urging the Boy Scouts of America to award her son his Eagle Scout Award. The mom, Karen Andresen, started the petition after her son Ryan was told that, despite 12 years of service in Scouts and the completion of a capstone project to earn his Eagle Scout, he'd be denied his Eagle designation because of his sexual orientation.

In his letter, Newsom called on the Boy Scouts of America to change course, and also urged the Mt. Diablo-Silverado Boy Scout Council to award Ryan Andresen his Eagle Scout Award.

“In defending this hurtful and discriminatory policy barring gay youth and leaders, the Boy Scouts of America are simply standing on the wrong side of history. And in doing so, the Boy Scouts are hurting the very people that you aim to serve: the young men who participate in your programs. Scout leaders who are speaking out against this hurtful policy inspire me. I urge the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council to follow the brave precedent established by other local councils by ending anti-discriminatory practices and approve the Eagle Scout award Ryan so justly deserves.”

Newsom joins 32 California state legislators and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in speaking out in support of Ryan Andresen and his family’s campaign to get his Eagle award, and to end the Boy Scouts of America’s anti-gay policy.

SALEM, Ore. -- An Oregon woman will be the first openly lesbian lawmaker to lead a state legislative chamber in the U.S.

Democrats in the state House Thursday night chose Rep. Tina Kotek of Portland to be the next speaker. The decision must be formally ratified in January.

Kotek's selection notches another milestone from an election that brought a series of victories to the gay community. Voters last week elected the first openly gay U.S. senator and the first bisexual member of Congress.

Kotek will be the first gay woman to get the top job in a legislative chamber.

Gay leaders will also control the House or Senate in four other states: Washington, California, Colorado and Rhode Island. The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund says that's more than ever before and up from two before the election.